Apparatus for carbureting air.



E.D. KENDALL. APPARATUS FOR GARBURBTING AIR.

APPLICATION FILED'MAYB, 1913.

11 AQQQQW Patented July 21, 1914;,

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I EDWARD D. KENDALL, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 CHARLES N. LINDLEY AND ONE-FOURTH TO JAMES B. HAG-GIN, BOTH 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

APFARATUS FOR CARBURETING AIR.

isomer.

Application filed May 6, 1913.

To all whom it may concern 1 Be it known that LEowAnn D. KENDALL, a citizen of New York, residing at Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Carbureting Air for Illuminating and Heating Purposes, of which invention the following is a specification. a

My invention relates to apparatuses employedlto' provide continuous currents of atmospheric air charged with the vapors of volatile combustible liquids and the objects of my improvements are to increase the power or capacity of the employed volumes of air to take up and hold required percentages of the said vapors and to facilitate and control the evolution of the vapors from the volatile conibustible liquids.

In this specification, where I refer to socalled gasolene, I include all volatile hydrocarbons and other inflammable liquids that are available to so charge atmospheric air with combustible vapors that the gaseous mixture shall be inflammable and capable of giving continuous flames for lighting or heating when supplied to suitable burners.

Commercial gasolencs are variable in composition and volatility, being composed of several hydrocarbons of different gravities; when the lighter and more volatile portions have evaporated from a given quantity of such gasolene, over which air is passing, the heavier and less volatile residue, under the same conditions, does not readily evolve vapor and fails to carburet the current of air to the required degree. Atmospheric air has more or less humidity and therefore isproportionately less or more capable of taking up the vapor of volatile hydrocarbon, the air being, to a greater or less degree, already loaded and the aqueous vapor opposing the accession of hydrocarbon vapor.

My improvements in apparatus are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatical View, partly in section, of my improved apparatus. Fig.

' is a cross sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective detail of an actuating device for moving certain rollers indicated in Fig. 1.

Referring to these drawings the following is a description of my apparatus for the stated Purposes: A closed tank, 1, Fig. 1,

Specification otLetters Patent.

Patented July 21, M914.

Serial No. 765,845.

has an opening, 2, shown in the drawing as closed by a removable screw-plug or cap; entering near the top of this tank is an inletpipe, 3, and from the-top of the tank exftends an outlet-pipe, 4; the inlet pipe, 8, after entering the tank bends downward and .tern'unatcs at a point not far from the top of ithe tank; at the bend. of the pipe 3, is a ism all opening through which passes a closely fitting movable rod or stiff wire connected .with or a part of the wire, 15, which extends ;through the pipe 3 and is to be hereinafter referred to.

I lVithin the tank, 1, is a frame of metal or ivood carrying four rollers (two pairs), 5, 5; over each pair of rollers, consisting of one near the top of the tank and the opposite one near the bottom of the tank, is an endless web of cloth, 6, G; the two uppermost I rollers are connected, for corresponding motion, by gears, 7, Fig. 9.; one of these upper rollers carries aratchet-wheel, 8, Figs. 1 and held within guides attached to the upper part of the frame 'thatcarries the rollers is a sliding bar, 9, Figs'l a1 13, carrying a pawl which is held by a spring to the teeth of the ratchet-wheel 8: this bar is fastened at one end to the rod or wire 15, which passes through the inlet-pipe 3, and is connected at its other end with one end of' a helical spring, 10, the farther end of which spring is fas tened to the aforesaid frame: attached to this frame is a detent pawl, 11, Fig. 3, which is held by 1 a spring to the teeth of the ratchet-wheel 8. i

The exterior wall of a building (or it may be regarded as representing a partition between two apartments) is indicated by 12; the pipe 3 is shown as passing thrtmgh this wall and extending beyond it to a. connected stuffing box 13, through which passes a movable rod, 14, which rod is fastened at one yond it to barriers for illumination or heating; this carbureted air may also be used to operate gas-engines.

A current of air is supplied to the pipe 17 by any suitable means, for example, the well- -known methods of using a meter-wheel pump driven by a suspended weight, or a small double bellows so or otherwise actuated, or an air-pump operated by any available evaporating surfaces. The preferable matei pipe 4.

power, as of steam, hot air or gas engines, electricity, or Water-power, &c. The air so forced through the pipe 17 passes through a filtering screen 18, which may be of cloth or fine wire gauze and which removes dust from this air; the pipe 17 extending beyond this screen, enters a receptacle represented by the rectangular box 19, which may be made of wood or metal; this receptacle contains unslaked lime, calcium chlorid, or other hygroscopic substance, suitably disposed: the box 19 is shown divided into two compartments by the partition 21 which. extends to near the bottom of the box and these com partments contain tray-like shelves, 20, 20, preferably arranged with regard to each other like baffle-plates, which shelves carry the hygroscopic agent, 22; if unslaked lime be used the receptacle 19 should be of large dimensions so. that the air passing through it shall circulate slowly; when a very large plant is installed the receptaclefor lime may be a closet or small room within masonry; crude calcium chlorid, as a by-product, is

very cheap and if this be used its avidity for moisture renders practicable the use of a much smaller receptacle than is indicated in the drawing by the box 19. The air deprived of moisture escapes from the box 19 when the valve 24, in the bent part of the pipe 3, is opened and this desiccated air is conducted by the pipe 3 into the tank 1. This tank is to be supplied with gasolene tosay one-fourth or one-third of its full capacity: the endless webs of cloth, 6, 6, become impregnated with gasolene by capillarity of the material (and also as hereinafter stated) and present to the circulating dried air large rial for these endless webs is heavy mercerized cotton clot-h, the mercerization greatly increasing the capillary force of and absorption by the hollow cotton fibers and the interstices of the cloth.

The air charged with combustible gasolene vapor passes out of the tank 1 through the pipe 4 which conducts it to the burners. When the apparatus is operated in warm weather or in a warm place the dried air is likely to take up so much vapor 'of gasolene as to give smoking flames at the burners: this is remedied by opening, to a greater or less extent, as required, the valve 26 in the pipe 25 when a portion of the dried air pas's-' ing from the box 19will continuously enter the pipe 1. and therein mix with and, so to speak, dilute the too heavily carbureted air on its way to the burners: frictional resist ance to the passing of the dried air through the long pipe 3 suffices to divert any required portion of the air from the box 19 into the When commercial gasolene has -"lawn 'ofi vapor until the larger part of its vo hime has been thereby removed, the residue consists mostly of the heavier and less volatile constituents of such gasolene and no longer freely supplies vapor to the atmospheric air in contact with it, therefore the gasolene drawn (at first continuously -as vapor is evolved). by capillary force into the fibers and meshes of the endless webs 6, 6, gradually'leaves therein the less volatile hydrocar bons which not only do not furnish suflicient vapor to the circulating air but, filling the meshes and pores of the cloth, prevent the free supply; thereto of the more volatile por-' tions of t e gasolene: under these circumstances, and particularly in cold weather, the air passing from the tank 1 into the pipe 4: may not be sufiiciently charged with gasolene-vapor: the remedy is to rotate the rollers 5, 5, for a minute, when all parts of-the webs 6, 6, will thereby be submerged in and drawn through the main body of gasolene, the heavier hydrocarbons bein therein Washedout of the cloth and the we s charged again with more volatile gasolene; the rotation of I the rollers 5, 5, is effected by repeatedly-f pulling the handle 16 when the attached wire. 90."

15 draws the sliding bar'9 carrying the pawl v- Which actuates the ratchet-wheel i The webs 6.6 being of closely woven cloth the meshes thereof are filled y lary attraction with the liquid gasolene andthis prevents the air which enters the tank,

from passing through the cloth: the air circulates free y within the tank 1 and; over the exposed surfaces of the webs and lakes capilup vapor of gasolene therefrom as .well

from the surface of the main body of gasolene in the bottom of the tank, from which" the. webs derive, by their capillarity, a continuous supply of gasolene to replace that which is taken up by the air. I

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In an apparatus of the character described, a closed tank containing volatile combustible liquid and having an inlet pipe and an outlet pipe for a supplied current of atmospheric air and Within the tank, suitably supported, a pair of rollers carrying an endless web of absorbent material, means including a ratchet-wheel attached to one roller for imparting motion to said web, and means for actuating said ratchet-wheel including a rod EDWARD D. KENDALL.

Witnesses:

GHAnLEs N. LINDLEY, EDMOND B. BRONSON. 

